(From) Where I Sleep.

My Bed is just a bed. The Ikea frame was bought on ebay for $40 when our old bed kicked the bucket about four years ago. It’s never made & not at all interesting; you don’t want to see that. Like a lot of you it seems, my bedroom is often always a mess; it’s where all the clean clothes go to get folded… they get turfed unceremoniously from the laundry basket to the bed & then they get pushed to the floor when Mr goes to bed. I don’t know if he’s ever put a piece of clothing away in his life.

Our house is teeny weeny. Calling it teeny weeny might actually be a generous term… but even worse is that it’s teeny weeny with absolutely zero storage & our room is the smallest bedroom, cut in half vertically by the loft so there is no soaring ceiling like the ones in the rest of the house which at least give the illusion of space… that makes for a cluttered, dark look no matter what you’ve got in there.

Clutter Chic.

Who needs curtains when you can hang your dresses by the window…? (And some of you were too embarrassed to post your pictures…!)

More My Place & Yours players here. Thank you to the lovely participants; I promise I will wait until at least Thursday next time before pouting in the corner…!

(…& with this post my friends, Blogtoberfest is OVER!)

Feeling The Burn.

Blogtoberfest has me on the ropes. I had a post for today; in fact, I have posts (in my head) for lots of days, but I woke up feeling “Meh”.

My Place and Yours is off to a slow start this week; tell me why? Is it the long weekend? Is it the theme? Would you like some ideas?

Creative licence is welcomed with this meme. Already two players have adorable pictures of their kiddos where they sleep. Or you could shoot what you can see from where you sleep, or perhaps an artistic shot of your pillow & some musing on why you need to spend more time with it… so you still have a childhood teddy?! What I wouldn’t do to see that. Take your time by all means, but do join in, lest I feel disheartened & give up like I tend to do when things don’t go so well. It’s a petulant attitude, I know, but it’s my petulant attitude.

I’ve dusted off the ol’facebook page over here; I have something in mind for November that I think peeps over there (& on the twitter, of course) can help me with, so if you’re curious, or bored, or perhaps would like me to draw something in particular (<---- Less of a hint, more of a sledgehammer), pop over & wait impatiently.

Okay, that’s enough rambling for a post I wasn’t even going to write! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, long or short & remember; Just. One. More. Day.

My Place and Yours.

Loved the pincushions everybody shared for MPAY last week, didn’t you? I had a couple of favourites, like the human pincushion, the pincushion I wanted for myself & a HUGE pincushion, but it was lovely to see all the different kinds & read about why they were special, or neglected, or around at all. Kellee even chose to make her bloggy debut with MPAY; honoured much??

The whole lovely list is here.

And now. Drumroll?

Drumroll.

This week’s theme is….

“Where I sleep”

Suggested by the lovely Lauren. Me thinks there will be some interesting posts this week…

My Place & Yours starts on Saturday but you can join in any day throughout the week.

 

Link back here somewhere in your MPAY post so that people know where to come to join in – the more the merrier!

 

To play, take a photo or a bunch of photos of or relating to the theme & leave the link to your post in the list below. The photos can be as fancy pants & stylised as you like, or they can be quick & dirty via an instagram pic – whatever you like. If you would like to write a little something, a lot of something or nothing at all, that’s cool with me.

 

Do try to pop by & visit some of the other players & let them know what you think of their posts, won’t you?

(Pics via flickr: top, bottom)

This, that & the other.

You know, during blogtoberfest especially I make it my business to take the smallest events of the day & turn them into a big production (ie, a blog post), so now that I actually have more interesting things to talk about I’m in a big fluster.

I will start by saying that my blog would be infinitely more exciting if I did in fact live in Melbourne & hung out with such lovely crafterpeeps as I met last night at Readings, everyone has something going on, projects, life, things that spark conversations & ideas… ah, I can dream… maybe it’s a blessing though, to be out here… I don’t seem to have enough room for all these new things in my head without losing some powers of articulation (or so it seems this morning – I am so tired after two late nights driving about the countryside).

Yesterday was a day of bbqing, picnics, driving, nerves, chatting, smiling, excitement, sharing, remembering (like I remembered Jem! Do YOU remember Jem?!) & forgetting! Maybe it’s just that I am surely becoming a country bumpkin & I’m not used to having more than one thing to do in a day? Maybe everybody else has days like that all the time? For me it was a bit of a blur; except for the driving, driving, driving… props to Ms Pops for her awesome city driving skillz; I wouldn’t have made it in to St Kilda if it weren’t for her!

It was tops to meet people I only know from twitter or their blogs (even if I didn’t realise at the time) & see the lovely people I have met before again. It was super nice to meet Pip finally after reading her blog for so long & chatting on twitter; she is so lovely to crazy strangers (okay, maybe I was the only CRAZY stranger…) & warm & encouraging. I may be crafty crushing on Pip today… & she totally wrote in my book with pink texta. Oh yeah. (I just saw on Pip’s blog there are a few pictures from last night including one where she is actually signing my book.. I can tell because my pink boot is in the picture… my feet are famous, uh-huh. Go look at the piccys! I had a couple of bloggy peeps but they were candid shots of people mid conversation with those lovely unawares mid-conversation type faces & I am making an executive decision not to be a meanie & post them!)

And, I have new glasses, glasses I like & am actually going to wear like a grown up. I took this picture when I got up… messy hair & panda eyes & all… it’s made me glad I didn’t blog when I was younger & running about drinking all night. If this is what I look like after a night out at a respectable do where the strongest tipple was ginger beer, I shudder to think what I looked like after stumbling home at 4am with a stranger’s cardigan & hazy memories…

AND AND AND…. Suspence took 3 steps on his own this morning! Eek!!

My Creative Space.

My Creative Space is very pip-centric today, since I went to a Brown Owls meeting last night (fun!), made a granny bauble from her book (with lots & lots & lots of help from a fellow owl. Mine is the yellow one… I seem to have subconsciously cut it out of the picture…) & am heading off to her event at Readings tonight (EXCITED)!

More spaces here.

My Pincushion.

This is the pincushion I use & love. I got it in a swap from Rachelle of Ted & Agnes & it’s big & sturdy & exactly what I needed in a pincushion.

We received 3 pincushions each in that swap & I only use this one. The other two are “display only”, sitting pretty on my mantle piece & making me smile every day… but Rachelle’s was made to be used. The funny thing is that she uses the one I sent her too! I love that.

I just happened to mention it to her… or was it the other way around… on twitter… & the next thing I know I was looking at a twitpic of the little pincushion I made out of a vintage blanket from around here in action all the way over in England. I was chuffed I was.

Joining in with my My Place & Yours at… my place! Join in anytime before Saturday or just go visit the players; there are some beautiful pincushions & some funny ones too. A special shout-out to Jackie for being a wonderful meme participant – I like to thank everybody for playing but I noticed everywhere I went today Jackie had already beat me to it! So thank you – it’s lovely when you’ve put the effort into joining a meme to have some new visitors stop by & appreciate it.

In other news the very first meeting of the Geelong Brown Owls is on tonight; I am not at all nervous about it. Nope. Not one bit. You can wish me luck if you like… not that I need it or anything. *gulp*

Richard.

I’m joining in with Kel today & sharing some inspirational quotes, partly because it doesn’t require me to do any heavy lifting with my ailing computer, but mostly because it’s a lovely idea to help us get through to the end of the ‘fest. I’m cheating though, as I do, because my favourite quotes aren’t necessarily inspirational, though the man they are from certainly has been to me.

I have talked time & time again about the fact that my favourite author is Richard Brautigan; I was tickled pink just recently to find one of his books I’ve never read for $3.95 & I am currently enjoying & savouring every moment. Don’t be dismayed if you have never heard of him. I’m used to that; I get inexplicably excited when someone HAS heard of him.

I love the way he wrote, the way he looked at the world & what he wrote about. I love that I found him all on my own, by accident, because I thought he looked cool on the cover of one of his books. I am touched by the tragedy that was his suicide & the fact that he wasn’t celebrated in life the way I feel he should have been, but most of all, I’m glad to have his books for company. I can read & re-read my favourites without ever getting bored, I am always amused & delighted, & for that, Richard, I thank you.

Bahumbug [STOP] Blogtoberfest Day 24 [STOP]

Massive computer troubles here [STOP] Sending telegram lest they persist past midnight [STOP] Blogtoberfest must go on [STOP]

The Perfect Family.

He was a lumberjack who liked to crochet & drink billy tea.

She was a secretary who liked to recycle & ride her bicycle to work.

Their dog was supposed to be a miniature dachshund, but they really should have asked to view her parents.

They were the perfect family.

My Place And Yours

Whoa – last week just flew by! Here we are in Saturday again already…

Many thanks to everyone who played My Place and Yours last week, I loved seeing what was on your shelves & I’m so glad you had fun joining in, if you missed it you can have a snoop around here.

The Twitter decided the giveaway winner for me;

That’s you Lisa of Sweet Little Pretties! Email me with your postal deets & I will send you the naughtiest knitting book you ever did see.

This week’s theme was suggested by Nic, my favourite textile designer (honestly, there was a time when I would have bet my life I would never in fact have such a thing as a “favourite textile designer”);

“My Pin Cushion”.

I would like to hazard a guess that most people, even if they don’t really sew, have a pin-cushion somewhere in their house. I know I had one of those tomato ones kicking around here from some dodgy travel sewing kit my Gran gave me well before I would have considered ever using one, it’s just one of those things that seems to hang around.

If you DO sew however, you may have a special pin cushion, you may have a fancy one, or a simple one you made yourself. It may have a story or it may just be the cheapest one you could find in the craft store, whatever it is, we want to see it.

• My Place & Yours starts on Saturday but you can join in any day throughout the week.

• Link back here somewhere in your MPAY post so that people know where to come to join in – the more the merrier!

• To play, take a photo or a bunch of photos of or relating to the theme & leave the link to your post in the list below. The photos can be as fancy pants & stylised as you like, or they can be quick & dirty via an instagram pic – whatever you like. If you would like to write a little something, a lot of something or nothing at all, that’s cool with me.




• If you play, please take the time to visit some of the other players; that’s the whole point!

  
  
  
  
  

For Cam.

These virtual flowers WERE because I couldn’t send real flowers to a beautiful gal. Now they are because I hope the colours make her smile on what must have been a rollercoaster of a day.

xx

You Know You Grew Up Aussie in the 90s When;

Don’t ask me how I came across this list randomly last night – it is purely & simply the wonder of the internets… but I believe it’s been doing the rounds via one of those “You have to read this!” forwarded emails for years now. I had to post it here because so many of the points had me going “Oh yeah!!!”. For your interest, I have highlighted those points… I have also deleted the ones that had me scratching my head… to save time… it’s a long list. I also think it should be entitled ‘You Know You Grew Up Aussie in the 80s AND 90s’, because I was 9 in 1990 & surely remember some of this stuff from before then… even the way the list is written, as though compiled by a 10 year old, takes me back.

Let us reminisce together, children of my generation…!

• You made worms by squeezing your Vegemite or peanut butter crackers together.

• The best parties always had fairy bread.

• You always used to see that dried out, white dog poo on the footpath.
  You never see that anymore. (Oddly, I was actually pondering this the other day. Go council by-laws.)

• SuperTed, Widget The World Watcher and Samurai Pizza Cats.

• Doing research for school projects by going to the library or looking up an encyclopaedia rather than using the internet. (Imagine!)

• Banana Man, Bangers and Mash and The Raggy Dolls.

• Game Boy.

• Waking up early everyday to watch Agro’s Cartoon Connection.

• Hey Hey It’s Saturday.

• Buying those 6 packs of Coco Pops, Fruit Loops, Frosties, Rice Bubbles, Nutri-Grain and Corn Flakes so you could have a different one each day and then opening the packets really carefully and removing the cereal so you'd have a mini wardrobe afterwards. You also most probably just let your parents eat the Corn Flakes.

• Postman Pat, Fireman Sam and Lift Off (that show with the dirty, blind doll named EC).

• The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

• Don’t push me, push a push pop!

• Nobody made not jokes... NOT!!

• That's so funny, I forgot to laugh.

• You decorated your room with glow-in-the-dark stickers.

• Feeling sad when your Tamagotchi died. (And Furby – don’t forget Furby! “Bright… light…. loud… sound..”)

• Seeing a small rack of DVDs in the video store and wondering if anyone ever rented them.

• Dolly the sheep.

• Getting up early to watch the Rage Top 50.

• Sonic the Hedgehog.

• Watching South Park for the first time and being really excited by all the swearing.

• Blowing on the Nintendo cartridge before putting it in the console to make sure it worked properly.

• Vulcan, Tower, Flame... the Australian Gladiators.

• Wolfenstein, Doom and Duke Nukem.

• “And the winner is… Sydney.”

• Mighty Max and Polly Pocket. Max and Polly always got lost because they were so bloody small. (I always wanted a Polly Pocket… ALWAYS. I think I might have got an opped one once…)

• Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

• Ray Martin hosted A Current Affair.

• Zoopa Doopa ice blocks were only 20c and if you couldn’t afford it, you asked the canteen lady to cut it in half so you could split it with a friend. (YES!!! ‘cept at ours you get a half for 10cents…)

• Happy Meals were only $2.95 and the toys were simple but actually good.

• Pogs and Looney Tunes Tazos.

• You ate Smarties instead of M&M’s.

• You tried Dr. Pepper and hated it. (LIES!!! DR PEPPER IS DELICIOUS IN IT’S COUGH MEDICINE-Y GOODNESS!)

• Goosebumps & Babysitters Club.

• You had to actually call your friends rather than send them an SMS.

• Hubba Bubba.

• Talk to the hand!

• Johnson and Friends, Noddy and Humphrey B. Bear.

• Slap bracelets.

• Jurassic Park and those toy dinosaurs where you could pull a piece of the skin out to see its insides.

• Roger Ramjet, he’s our man, hero of our nation.

• We had paper money.

• Good on ya Mum! Tip Top’s the one!

• Rocko’s Modern Life, Rugrats and Hey Arnold! (I looooooooooved Rocko’s Modern Life… did you ever watch it? I found a comic once that showed you how to draw Heffer in stages… I can still do it…)

• Noni, Monica and that bald guy named George on Play School.
• Watching The Lion King and feeling Simba’s pain when Mufasa died.

• Soft serve cones were only 30c and they never tried to up-sell a Flake because they didn’t have it.

• Wanting a Brain or Silver Bullet during the yo-yo craze.

• Nesquik without the Nes.

• Troll Dolls.

• Ba-na-na-na-na! Ba-na-na-na-na! Make those bodies sing!

• You had to get your photos developed.

• Your family didn’t own a 4WD unless it was a real one like a Land Cruiser or Patrol. Range Rovers were tough and nobody thought BMW would make a 4WD, let alone Porsche.

• Competing with your friends to see who could eat the most sour Warheads in one go.

• The Channel 9 logo had dots next to it and the Channel 7 logo wasn’t a folded piece of paper.

• No Hat, no play.

• Dr. Dreadful Food Labs. Kids these days wouldn't be allowed that because its not healthy enough. 

• High five! Up high, down low, too slow!

• Watching Round the Twist and getting pissed off that the actors kept on changing. You still loved it though.

• Cheating in Heads Down, Thumbs Up.

• Watching that game show called Vidiot. Game shows didn't have to be educational back then, like That's Academic... that show sucks.

• Healthy Harold day was the best because you got to miss class to sit in a tiny caravan and listen to a talking giraffe.

• Playing handball with Ace, King, Queen and Dunce and making up stupid rules as you went along.

• Skipping ropes and Jump Rope for Heart Day. (Do they still have Jump Rope for Heart Day?)

• Hypercolour T-shirts.

(Of course later in the 90s came the docs, flanno shirts, ‘Fudged’ hair, ripped jeans & ‘tencel’ overalls… but that is teen angst in the 90s, not the wonder of childhood…!)

What memories of popular culture do you have from your youth? Are you a 90s kid, an 80s kid (I consider myself one of those too, being born in ‘81 – Care Bears, Smurfs, Strawberry Shortcake, Popples!), a 70s kid?

My Creative Space.

Drawing & playing in Photoshop; two of my favourite things.

Before:

After:

I have been toying with the idea of getting my arse into gear & opening an etsy or madeit shop finally, but I just can’t seem to do it. I am at my happiest when I am making something for somebody else. I enjoy the process of creating & giving something so much, it gives me an energy & enthusiasm that I just can’t seem to harness with the thought of “this is going to be for sale” in mind.

But I don’t have any bloody money either…!

It’s all relative I guess, I could finally get in the right mindset & nobody would want to buy my wares. Maybe that is what is stopping me, if I’m honest. That deep rooted fear of failure that I think all but the strongest & most confident of us harbour… how do I get past that? Have you ever had to?

More spaces here.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…………………………………!

There is no restraint, there is no waiting to post tomorrow, there is no decorum whatsoever when one returns home from a tiring (& hot!) grocery shopping trip to find a yellow (!!!!) sausage dog waiting patiently on the doorstep.

Jodie. Jodie. Jodie. NOT NECESSARY! But so fan-frikkin-tastic I can not tell you. Thank you, you shouldn’t have etc etc etc…. I am IN LOVE. xx

In Stitches.

I do love a nice piece of embroidery. Some fun Etsy finds, click the pictures for shop links.

On The Shelf.

It’s about time I joined in with my own meme! This is what’s “on the shelf” in Suspence’s room.

…and this was what was going on while I was focused on the shelves…

We have a climber. First it was the couch, then “my” slightly taller armchair, then Punk’s bed, then our bed & now his chair & cupboard… he’s a squishy little parcel of mischief, this one.

I digress.

Apart from all the space robot goodness, I  love the shelves in Spence’s room because they are up HIGH.

They are tidy ALL THE TIME. I’m enjoying that while it lasts.

I bet he won’t even like robots when he’s bigger. I’ll keep them. It’s all good.

We’re playing My Place & Yours until Saturday, take a peek (…or a sticky beak)!

Opinions? ::UPDATED::

The lovely lady with whom I am discussing the Geelong Brown Owls with, upon visiting my blog, suggested I might want to draw a logo for the group. I love a project (in fact, it’s almost the only way to get me to do anything…) so of course I agreed, but I decided that I wanted to do a “proper” logo, something a bit slicker than one of my drawings would be, & have been playing around in Inkscape.

I still think I am an absolute beginner with this program & don’t want to tell you how long it took me to get to this stage via various tutorials & helpful tips, but I would like to know what you think of these?

Which do you prefer (I won’t tell you my favourite)? I was going for a retro vibe, but not being a Graphic Designer I’m not sure if I’ve done enough or too much or am on the completely wrong track altogether!

:: I listened to Nic (She IS an expert after all) & although I had tried the thick outline with the beige oval last night, I didn’t really like it. Tried again this morning with fresh eyes & was happier, but had to add something… so below is yet another option. I like it! ::